


Sunflowers At Sunset

by claryfrary



Category: The Grisha Trilogy - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: AU, F/M, Fluff, might delete, not my best work tbh, sunflowers are very prevalent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:06:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22620712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/claryfrary/pseuds/claryfrary
Summary: Alina and Aleksander engage in some sunflower shenanigans.
Relationships: The Darkling | Aleksander Morozova/Alina Starkov
Comments: 11
Kudos: 47





	Sunflowers At Sunset

**Author's Note:**

> THIS GOES OUT TO @WHOLEJOON ON TWITTER.

“Where’re we going?” I couldn’t help the smile pulling my lips. Whether from the excitement or the way Aleksander reached over the gearshift and picked up my hand in his, fiddling with my fingers, turning the gold ring on my thumb absently. His other hand rested lazily on the wheel, slumped elegantly in his seat and he glanced over at me, though it was longer than a glance despite the fact he was driving and shouldn’t have been looking at me at all. “What?” I leaned forward in my seat, turned towards him. “You’re just not gonna tell me?”

His full mouth kicked up at the corners, “No.” 

“You’re a cruel man,” but I was still smiling and he picked up our intertwined hands and kissed the back of mine. I slumped back, trying to get comfortable, watching the road disappear underneath the car and then keep coming from somewhere in the distance. But it was a bland landscape, overcast sky and gray road stretching endlessly before us. And I didn’t get to spend nearly as much time as I wanted with Aleksander. He was always here or there but never _here_ , never home. It was a problem easily solved, if neither of us was so stubborn. He didn’t want to leave the military and I didn’t feel like I should have to uproot my life for the sake of his. So it was my turn to visit him, and right now, he was living in Virginia. 

And apparently, there was some surprise out in the middle of nowhere that he wanted to show me. _Call it a date, Alina_ he’d said. I’d smiled back at him, _Oh no. I don’t think so. That’s a special word, reserved for when you wine and dine me_. 

_You’ll like this better_. And he’d said it like a promise.

I believed him. Even though there was nothing in sight.

My fingers began tracing patterns on his hand and the other tightened on the wheel. “Do you insist on doing that?” He didn’t look at me, which I knew meant he wasn’t irritated, necessarily, just distracted and irritated that I was capable of distracting him. He was a grudging man, my Aleksander. 

I pulled my hand out of his, and he did look at me now, eyes the colour of quartz narrowing as my fingers danced over the fabric covering his thigh. “I can do this instead?” The words were paired with wide eyes peering up at him from under my lashes and an innocent expression. He grabbed my hand and held it firmly in his, settling both of our hands over the gearshift. He grumbled something under his breath and I said, “What was that?”

“I can’t take you anywhere,” he replied sharply. I could only smile in return. Truth was, I couldn’t take him anywhere, and not just because he was a fussy baby. He was a grudging man, yes, but perhaps worse, he was a jealous one that felt like he needed to kiss me all the time just to prove we were each others’. _And_ he was a picky eater. 

He flicked on the signal light to turn left, and the scenery shifted to trees and a dirt road and then he turned right and pulled the car to a stop at the dead end that presented itself. All I could see was a field of gold, sunshine bright, for miles. I lost my breath and hadn’t even noticed Aleksander had gotten out of the car until my own door swung open. Now, now he was smiling - that grin I loved so much, the way it crinkled his eyes and bunched his cheeks and he was holding a picnic basket. He all but pulled me out of the car, the momentum knocking us into each other - he didn’t seem to mind too much, considering the way he leaned into me, whispering against the shell of my ear, making me shiver: “I told you you’d like this better.”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t be too proud of yourself, Aleks.”

He strolled alongside me, leading me down a sloping path into the field of sunflowers. “And why shouldn’t I be, my Alina?”

I had no idea. He’d done perfectly. He’d planned this well. A day spent with him, among my favourite flowers and picnicking - I just didn’t feel I needed to fuel his ego all that much. So, “You know pride is a sin” is all I came up with.

He laughed deep and loud and the flowers swayed around us in the breeze. He laid out the blanket on the dirt and it occurred to me just then that this was a maze, made up entirely of sunflowers. Why else would the paths be so neatly carved? 

Aleksander, for all the trouble I gave him about not knowing his way around a kitchen, pulled out a beautiful spread of artfully-cut strawberries, blueberries and grapes. The peanut butter and jam sandwich he handed me was heart-shaped, and he’d cut the crusts off. He paired it all with glasses of bubbling champagne, that I had to admit didn’t fit well with the sandwich but was cute nonetheless. We toasted each other silently; I smiled brightly at him and his eyes never left mine. 

He finished eating faster than I did, and he waited patiently, but when I was done he rose fluidly and extended a hand, pulling me to my feet. “Where’re you taking me now?” I lifted a brow.

He gave me a look. “For a walk.”

And walk we did. In no particular direction through the neatly-maintained paths. I let my hands trail over petals, fingertips coming away yellow. I startled when I heard the sound of snapping, spinning to see Aleksander coming towards me, sunflower in hand. 

It was my turn to give him a look. “What are you doing? You can’t just -”

But he’d already pushed the now-short stem of the flower behind my ear, where it sat perfectly still. Aleks looked entirely too satisfied with himself, and as a result, a blush crawled up my chest to my face. He brought his fist up to cover his mouth, to cover his smile at, I supposed, the sight of me. He mumbled something and I craned my head towards him. “Yes, Aleks?”

He rolled his shoulders, came to stand beside me once more. “You’re too beautiful for your own good.” If he expected me to simply carry on after something like that, well… 

The blush lasted much longer than I’d like (honestly, it was excessive) and I had no idea how to respond to something like that. _You too!_ and _Ditto!_ just weren’t appropriate. At least, to me. So I said, “Stop it,” and marched ahead of him.

However, this only served to make it easier for him to keep snapping the necks of the poor sunflowers close enough to be in reaching distance of Aleksander Morozova and stuff them in the back pockets of my jeans. He did it again and I whirled: “Are you having fun?”

He smirked. “I’m enjoying myself immensely.” 

But then, a little later down the path, he came to be beside me again, silently and easily sliding his hand into mine, curling his fingers over my hand. I didn’t realize we’d been gone so long, but we came to a part of the field - or the maze, whatever the appropriate term for something like this was - where all the flowers were small, and we could see the sun sinking below the horizon slowly, slowly. It was - amazing. Spectacular. Utter perfection made into something tangible. And as I stared at it, I couldn’t help but thinking, today had been perfect. One thing on top of another, each better than the last, and all thanks to Aleksander.

Aleks - my loving boyfriend, who I adored more than anything in the world. Aleks, who knew that I liked caramel pecan ice cream best, that I couldn’t sleep with a fan on, who knew I liked sunflowers best of all because they reminded me of the sun, the heat of it on my skin and the light of it hitting his face and the pure radiance of his smile - when he ever smiled that way. I turned to look at him, tell him _thank you_ for this wonderful day, the backs of my eyes stinging with tears trying to surface but all my words caught in my throat, my tongue a deadweight in my mouth.

Aleksander was staring up at me, bowed to one knee, a ring in his hands. 

“Alina,” his voice was low. “My Alina.”

“Aleks -”

“Before I met you, Alina, I planned on spending my life alone. I was going to rule the world” - he chuckled softly, darkly - “because I didn’t think anyone would love me this way, because I didn’t think anyone _could_. That _I_...could. But then there you were, knocking me off my high horse, and with a scowl on your face. I think I loved you right that moment, even though you didn’t leave with me that night, or for a long time after that. But you’re...you. So unparalleled, so Alina, and I couldn’t get you out of my head. So call this what you want - a thank you, a proposal. All I know is that I love you so fucking much and I want nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you.”

I was crying. I couldn’t stop. My hand was over my mouth, trying to stifle myself, and he reached for me, grabbed both my hands, somehow. Brought them to his lips, laying waste to me with a single kiss there. He stared back up into my eyes, almost beseeching, backlit by the setting sun. “Will you marry me, Alina?”

**Author's Note:**

> guys uhhh my tumblr is @sunsankta and my twitter is @eviesgreene if y'all wanna chat


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